Time your bodily functions to make sound decisions

By Kimberly Gillan| 4 years ago

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Hunger, needing to pee and sleep deprivation can all have a surprising impact on choices you make

Whether you're tossing up a new job, relationship change or life crisis, don't make important decisions on the fly. Scientists have found that if you time your decision with certain bodily functions, you'll make a sound choice.

Drink lots

If you're busting for a wee before making a big decision, you'll probably be more logical, according to Dutch researchers.

They found that when people had a full bladder they were able to exercise more self-control and be less impulsive.

The researchers asked volunteers to drink five cups of water or have some small sips, then wait 40 minutes, by which time the group who drank lots would likely need to pee.

They then asked participants a series of questions, such as "Would you like $16 now or $30 in 35 days' time?" The ones that needed to pee were better at waiting longer for twice as much money – whichis, in most cases, the obvious choice.

Eat something

If you want to eat healthy, don't shop on an empty stomach.

Researchers from Cornell University compared grocery shoppers who had had an afternoon snack with people who hadn't eaten anything for five hours and found the hungry people bought 31 percent more high calorie foods.

The researchers also analysed the sales at a real supermarket and found that more high calorie foods were purchased from 4pm-7pm than 1pm-4pm, which is when most people would have recently eaten lunch.

"People skip meals for all sorts of reasons — dieting, fasting, insane schedules that make you forget to eat," says lead author Aner Tal.

"But it doesn't matter why you skipped a meal, it can still make your nutritionist cry, making you buy more potato chips and ice-cream and less baby carrots and skim milk."

Get some shut-eye

Most of us would admit to being irrational when we're sleep-deprived but Singaporean researchers have found that too little sleep actually causes us to be overly optimistic.

They conducted brain scans on 29 volunteers after a good night's sleep and after a sleepless night and found that when they hadn't slept, the brain regions associated with positive outcomes were much more active than the region of the brain associated with negative outcomes.

The tired participants were also more likely to prioritise financial gains, which the researchers said is important to note for gamblers who might be more likely to take big risks after a sleepless night.

The researchers said their findings were particularly relevant to gamblers.

"Late-night gamblers are fighting more than just the unfavourable odds of gambling machines; they are fighting a sleep-deprived brain's tendency to implicitly seek gains while discounting the impact of potential losses," says Vinod Venkatraman, lead author and graduate student in Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University.

"Countermeasures that combat fatigue and improve alertness may be inadequate for overcoming these decision biases."